Transcendental Meditation

[Shain McVay]

I was just wondering what people think about Transcendental Meditation.
Here's a short paper I wrote in my college class:

There are seven states of Consciousness. Three of them are the waking, dreaming and sleeping states that everyone is familiar with and experiences in their daily life. The fourth state is what I'll be focusing on in this paper: Transcendental Consciousness(TC). The next three are the states of enlightenment.
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TC is what is experienced during Transcendental Meditation(TM). During TM your mind goes down into finer and finer levels of thought until it reaches the Unified Field referred to in physics as the source of all creation. This is where you experience the unbounded awareness or pure inner wakefulness of the absolute.
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People's experiences reflect our intellectual understanding of TC. When people transcend they experience themselves going inward - deeper and deeper. They experience contentment in a state where they don't experience time. They feel the unboundedness that is described by the Unified Field theory. Their experiences all reflect what we know intellectually about TC.
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TM is what promotes ones evolution to higher states of consciousness (enlightenment). It is through TM that one establishes the first state of enlightenment: having both a fully developed mind and a fully destressed nervous system.
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TM is the most ancient and most widely studied form of meditation. It's widely studied because the benefits are so high.
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EEG testing has also found that people's minds do in fact enliven their full potentials. EEGs have shown during TM the entire brain becomes aware of itself, where in typical state of functioning the percent of brain awareness is pretty low. We can see that fast activity of the mind is lowering down into finer and finer thoughts by the gamma activity deceasing to none and alpha becoming predominant, showing that one awareness is going inward on Self or inner consciousness and less on the outside world.
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We can also see that the minds full potential is enlivened outside of meditation as well. The longer you practice TM the more your mind reflects the state of TC outside of meditation. Your entire brain becomes coherent and aware of all other parts of the brain. You start acting from the full potential of the brain. You can also see that brainwaves become much more lively after long term use of TM.
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Stress form your nervous system is also released as we can see from the amount of cortisol being released in stressful situations. People become more stress free. All aspects from health care (ie anxiety, depression, hospital use, ect) improve drastically and everything good about the brain improves.(IQ, Memory, Processing Speed ect). These are all verified through over 600 studies on TM.
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We also know that TM practiced in large groups creates a peaceful affect of the environment. It has been found that only 1%, or the square root of 1% with advanced techniques, of the population of an area will create an average decrease in crime by 16%. This has been verified through many published studies.
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We also know that TM is natural; it is what humans were designed to do. When someone does TM for the first time his brainwaves are exactly the same as a long-term meditater practicing TM. There is no need for practice, but just starting mantra and letting your brain guide itself effortlessly. This all implies that TM is completely natural as your mind shows that it's natural tendency is to experience TC.
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With so many benefits of a natural and effortless technique, it only makes sense that TM should be applied by everyone. The benefits are overwhelming as is the evidence supporting it.

[Lenie]

Originally Posted by Shain McVay

I was just wondering what people think about Transcendental Meditation.
Here's a short paper I wrote in my college class:

There are seven states of Consciousness. Three of them are the waking, dreaming and sleeping states that everyone is familiar with and experiences in their daily life. The fourth state is what I'll be focusing on in this paper: Transcendental Consciousness(TC). The next three are the states of enlightenment.
-
TC is what is experienced during Transcendental Meditation(TM). During TM your mind goes down into finer and finer levels of thought until it reaches the Unified Field referred to in physics as the source of all creation. This is where you experience the unbounded awareness or pure inner wakefulness of the absolute.
-
People's experiences reflect our intellectual understanding of TC. When people transcend they experience themselves going inward - deeper and deeper. They experience contentment in a state where they don't experience time. They feel the unboundedness that is described by the Unified Field theory. Their experiences all reflect what we know intellectually about TC.
-
TM is what promotes ones evolution to higher states of consciousness (enlightenment). It is through TM that one establishes the first state of enlightenment: having both a fully developed mind and a fully destressed nervous system.
-
TM is the most ancient and most widely studied form of meditation. It's widely studied because the benefits are so high.
-
EEG testing has also found that people's minds do in fact enliven their full potentials. EEGs have shown during TM the entire brain becomes aware of itself, where in normal state of functioning the percent of brain awareness is pretty low. We can see that fast activity of the mind is lowering down into finer and finer thoughts by the Gamma activity deceasing to none and Alpha becoming predominant, showing that one awareness is going inward on Self or inner consciousness and less on the outside world.
-
We can also see that the minds full potential is enlivened outside of meditation as well. The longer you practice TM the more your mind reflects the state of TC outside of meditation. Your entire brain becomes co-hearant and aware of all other parts of the brain. You start acting from the full potential of the brain. You can also see that brainwaves become much more lively after long term use of TM.
-
Stress form your nervous system is also released as we can see from the amount of cortisol being released in stressful situations. People become more stress free. All aspects from health care (ie anxiety, depression, hospital use, ect) improve drastically and everything good about the brain improves.(IQ, Memory, Processing Speed ect). These are all verified through over 600 studies on TM.
-
We also know that TM practiced in large groups creates a peaceful effect of the environment. It has been found that only 1%, or the square root of 1% with advanced techniques, of the population of an area will create an average decrease in crime by 16%. This has been verified through many published studies.
-
We also know that TM is natural; it is what humans were designed to do. When someone does TM for the first time his brainwaves are exactly the same as a long-term meditater practicing TM. There is no need for practice, but just starting mantra and letting your brain guide itself effortlessly. This all implies that TM is completely natural as your mind shows that it's natural tendency is to experience TC.
-
With so many benefits of a natural and effortless technique, it only makes sense that TM should be applied by everyone. The benefits are overwhelming as is the evidence supporting it.

I enjoyed it. Learned a thing or two. And just so you know - it's coherent. and peaceful affect on the environment. Whatever.

[Shain McVay]

ah whoops . I just went based off the spell checker; it corrects me incorrectly.
Here's another thread on the Maharishi effect:
Maharishi Effect

[PerDev]

Transcendental Meditation requires minimizing activity, minimizing activity. This principle of minimizing activity is certainly opposite to the principle of activity. Minimizing of activity amounts to gaining momentum for activity. But as far as meditation and activity are concerned, they are two different principles.

In order to act, we must raise the hand. In order to meditate, we even close the eyes. We don’t have to raise the hand. So the principle of meditation is minimizing activity, and the principle of daily life is plunging into activity.

What is the relationship between them? The Bhagavad-Gita says, in one expression, very beautifully: Yogasthah kuru karmani. We don’t find such a beautiful expression in any literature anywhere in the world. Yogasthah kuru karmani.

The entire philosophy of action is summed up in two words. Yogasthah—that means transcend. Kuru karmani—perform action. Transcend, and then perform action. This means, perform action while established in Being [Transcendental Consciousness]. This is the practical formula of action: Perform action while established in Being.

And consider the sequence of these two words. The first is: Yogasthah—established in Being. The second is: perform action. Meditate and act. Pull the arrow and shoot.

Just that—pull the arrow and shoot. The technique of shooting is in pulling the arrow back, even though the principle of pulling the arrow is completely opposite to the principle of shooting the arrow. We pull on this side; we shoot on that side. Pulling and shooting are two different principles, but one principle adds to the efficiency of the other principle. Perform action in daily life, but how and when? Having become established in Being, then perform action.

So in this way, Transcendental Meditation is found to be the basis of success in daily life, even though Transcendental Meditation is for resting and daily life is on the basis of acting. You are active during the day, and you are resting during meditation.

If we try to impose the principle of resting in the field of acting, then we will have difficulty. It is not possible to relate the principle of Transcendental Meditation to daily life, because acting is on one level and resting is on a different level.

Even though rest is the basis of action, the principle of resting is different than the principle of acting. The whole principle of acting is based on the principle of resting, but the two things are opposite.

When we dig the foundation, we go deep into the ground. And the purpose of going deep into the ground is to raise the building high above the ground. When we want to raise the building six stories, the first thing to do is to go two or three stories into the ground.

Pull the arrow, and then shoot. Meditate and then act.

Our teaching about Transcendental Meditation is very clear. We say: Meditate, and forget about meditation when you are active in life. Never think of meditation. Never pause about it. Don’t try to recapitulate the experiences of meditation when you are working in the office. That will not be right. We just meditate and forget about meditation. Plunge into activity.

It’s just like when we take a bath and then feel fresh throughout the day, without remembering how we took the bath. To feel fresh, to feel the benefit of the bath, we don’t have to keep remembering that we took a bath and it was that degree of cold or hot. Remembrance of taking a bath is no help for feeling fresh throughout the day. We have taken the bath, and it is enough. We can completely forget whether we took a bath or not, yet we can enjoy the effect of it.

So we meditate, forget about meditation, and plunge into action. The effect of meditation, the benefit, will automatically remain with us. That is why we say it’s a natural process. It’s not based on our psychological understanding or on our emotional feelings. The benefits of Transcendental Meditation are something genuine.

That’s why all these tests on the physiological changes during meditation, these scientific experiments, produce data verifiable at any time by anyone. Because the whole thing is genuine.

That is why when we talk of Transcendental Meditation, we talk of silencing the activity. When we talk of action in life, then we talk of activity, not silencing.

Transcendental Meditation is an essential part of daily life, but 15 or 20 minutes of it is enough, just as we may spend half an hour at the dining table. Dining is a part of daily life, but we don’t keep on thinking about food all the time. Just that half an hour, 20 minutes, 15 minutes at the table, and it’s all over.

We can do nothing without food. The whole philosophy of action depends upon food. But the philosophy of food is self-contained. The philosophy of food is not the same as the philosophy of going out and doing something.

Just like that, Transcendental Meditation has its own philosophy, its own benefits, while the field of action is a different field. It’s only a 20-minute job, morning and evening. Twenty minutes and that is it.

It is true that Transcendental Meditation influences all phases of our daily life, but we allow it to influence every phase of our life without bothering about them. It brings a spontaneous benefit.

[Shain McVay]

Here's an expanded video:
(If you want to skip past the physics part and see the part on brain activity skip to 24:35)
Dr John Hagelin - The Effects of Group Meditation on Crime - Google Video

[PerDev]

Please share your experience with the Transcedental Meditation or any other kind of meditation

[Shain McVay]

Well about a year ago I used to suffer from severe anxiety but after using TM it is completely gone. I don't really know when the anxiety went away but when I went home from school for the holidays, after a few months, I could really tell it was drastically better. Now like I said it is completely gone. I also feel more intellgient and can focus much better. I also really enjoy my experiance when doing TM.